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Barth's lively, highly original collection of short pieces is a major landmark of experimental fiction. Though many of the stories gathered here were published separately, there are several themes common to them all, giving them new meaning in the context of this collection.

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

In his story, "The Immortal," Jorge Luis Borges describes alabyrinth as "a structure compounded to confuse men; its architecture, rich in symmetries, is subordinated to that end."* Similarly, the stories of Barth's collection _Lost in the Funhouse_, present a labyrinth of narrative fiction, in their exploration of the story as medium, voice, and tool of the magician. The fourteen stories, reflecting Barth's idea of a narrative as a structure, take the varied forms of Mobius strip, letter, autobiography, and tale; what makes for additional complexity, is the insistence by each of the stories' characters (who include a siamese twin, heroes of the Odyssey,and an abandoned court minstrel) to have his or her say. Inherent in this is Barth's insistence on the infinite number of possible constructions of a narrative, which stun the reader through his descriptions, plot lines (knots, in some cases), and ideas. Read _Lost in the Funhouse_ to witness Barth's magic, and to be reminded of the combined power of voice and language, storytelling.

Lost in the Funhouse (1968) is a short story collection by American author John Barth. The postmodern stories are extremely self-conscious and self-reflexive and are considered to exemplify metafiction.

Though Barth's reputation rests mainly on his long novels, the stories "Night-Sea Journey", "Lost in the Funhouse", "Title" and "Life-Story" from Lost in the Funhouse are widely anthologized. The book appeared the year after the publication of Barth's essay The Literature of Exhaustion, in which Barth said that the traditional modes of realistic fiction had been used up, but that this exhaustion itself could be used to inspire a new generation of writers, citing Nabokov, Beckett, and especially Borges as exemplars of this new approach. Lost in the Funhouse took these ideas to an extreme, for which it was both praised and condemned by critics.

... is what another minstrel once said, and it best sums up my experience of this book. I'd been well on my way becoming a fan of John Barth after having read "The Floating Opera" but this book made me fall in love with him his writing the narrator who tells the narrated untellable etc. etc.:) In honest, the chaotic whole made up of these seemingly disjointed stories, is simply awe-inspiring. At least two of them, "Echo" and "Menelaide", are my personal favourites. As a reader you are made to pull your own weight in the medium-that-is-the-message part, and it's not always easy. Other times, you are just invited to laugh or wonder or cry and often all at the same time. I am looking forward to reading all of his other books - there's no turning back now...

Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)

Amazon.com:
19 reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

Confusing, Hilarious, Profound5 Jun. 2006

By
Jonathon
- Published on Amazon.com

Format: Paperback

Lost in the Funhouse can be a very bewildering and irritating collection if you aren't in the right mood for it. If you aren't well-versed in post-modern fiction (barthelme, calvino, etc are good reference points) you might want to start somewhere else first. Even Barth's novels are more immediately digestible.

With that said, though, this collection doesn't really operate on one consistent level. Perhaps this is because many of these stories were written by Barth much earlier in his career. The three stories concerning Ambrose's birth and development are very straightforward and enjoyable on a surface level until the whole series goes flying into left-field with the titular "Lost in the Funhouse" story (which Barth is probably most known for). From that point on, most of the stories are more about the process of writing and the relationship between the reader, writer, and the characters. Stories like "Title" and "Life-Story" work more as essays on the nature of fiction than actual works of fiction, and were (for me at least) a little tedious. The best moments occur when Barth combines his thoughful analysis on the nature of writing and art with a really good ground-situation, typically based on Greek mythology. The best of these are the utterly raunchy "Petitition" and the labyrinthine "Menelaiad".

Taken as a whole, though, Lost in the Funhouse is greatly satisfying, even if (like me) you really only understood about 20% of what Barth was talking about on your first read-through. It's the sort of book I'll go back to again and again to try and delve deeper into the mystery of the funhouse while appreciating all over the hilarious bawdy humor.

Oh, and make sure to read Barth's seven additional notes at the front of the book (though maybe only after you've read the story that is being discussed in each note, so as not to ruin the initial experience)-- they really help to clarify some of Barth's intentions. I can't even imagine appreciating a story like "Glossolalia" without having read the note concerning it.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful

I write therefore I am...27 Oct. 2007

By
Mark Nadja
- Published on Amazon.com

Format: Paperback

In his introduction to this collection of tales, John Barth warns that writing shorting stories isn't his strong suit; he'd rather write novels. Well, I thought, you don't have to read the goat entrails to see this isn't an auspicious augur since *reading* short stories isn't my mine; I prefer novels. Could it be worse? As writer and reader we were perfectly matched: that is, perfectly wrong for each other. What a surprise then! Turns out either writer and/or reader were both happily mistaken and/or correct yet fortuitously found the slim exception to the rule. *Lost in the Funhouse* is a remarkable book--a stunning sampling of erudition, wit, originality, and linguistic pyrotechnics of such deft complexity I dare you not to get lost at least half a dozen times and I double-dare you not to laugh out loud at least as many.

Be forewarned: these aren't the O Henry! type short stories of your grandpappy's day--the kind with clear-cut beginnings, waistlines, and back ends. They aren't cluttered with all those moth-ridden, mold-covered boxes of conceptual costumes from the prehistory of narrative: stuff like character, conflict, setting, dramatic progression, etc. If you're looking for Hemingway or Steinbeck, read Hemingway or Steinbeck. There are characters in Barth's fiction--"voices" properly speaking--but who are they, who are you, who is the author? There is a setting--but exactly where is it, where is anything, are we only *just* imagining it all? There is a story, of sorts--but it's fractured, inconsistent, starts somewhere, progresses a while and could end, like life, like this sentence, at any time, anywhere.

The subjects of these stories are as wildly unlikely as the method of their telling, including: a sperm's journey; Menelaus and Helen after the Trojan War; a young boy's surrealistic experience in a decrepit funhouse by the shore. The stories are linked, so says their author, but only in the most oblique of ways, so says this reader. But it's not important--they each stand alone, linked most obviously by Barth's main concern: the difficulty--if not the sheer impossibility--of telling a simple story at all, of getting at the truth, or the fiction.

Many will be perplexed beyond all patience with *Lost in the Funhouse,* others will dismiss it as self-conscious postmodern prattle, but those who keep going through this maze of distorting mirrors, secret passages, creepy terrors, and ribald comedy will find themselves passing themselves in opposite directions, mystified, charmed, and not a little disconcerted. Barth tells a complex story by *not* telling a story better than most writers tell a story. He clearly knows his way around the conventions and uses them to illustrate how utterly inadequate the conventions are to describing our experience. Barth doesn't bring you to the end or even back to the beginning; he brings you back to the middle which is where you showed up in the first place, exactly where you were when you first realized you were lost.

You can't reader yourself out of this funhouse no more than Barth could write himself out of it and it's at that point you can begin to relax and enjoy the goofy, cheesy horror of it all.

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful

Fantastic collection of experimental fiction!8 Jun. 1996

By
A Customer
- Published on Amazon.com

Format: Paperback

In his story, "The Immortal," Jorge Luis Borges describes alabyrinth as "a structure compounded to confuse men; itsarchitecture, rich in symmetries, is subordinated to that end."* Similarly, the stories of Barth's collection _Lost in the Funhouse_, present a labyrinth of narrative fiction, in their exploration of the story as medium, voice, and tool of the magician. The fourteen stories, reflecting Barth's idea of a narrative as a structure, take the varied forms of Mobius strip, letter, autobiography, and tale; what makes for additional complexity, is the insistence by each of the stories' characters (who include a siamese twin, heroes of the Odyssey,and an abandoned court minstrel) to have his or her say. Inherent in this is Barth's insistence on the infinite number of possible constructions of a narrative, which stun the reader through his descriptions, plot lines (knots, in some cases), and ideas. Read _Lost in the Funhouse_ to witness Barth's magic, and to be reminded of the combined power of voice and language, storytelling.

Lost in the Funhouse is a fearless short story collection where subject matter is constantly inverted from the norm and readers are meant to be teased. The mundane becomes the epic and the epic becomes the mundane. Narrators are often comically self-conciousness, supposedly bored with their work, and yet, occasionally boastful. Of course, every boast is appropriately paired with the sting of hilarious self-deprication. John Barth is clearly having a great time, and it is the reader who really benefits.

Ultimately, Lost in the Funhouse is a literary master's hall of mirrors on paper and a Metafictions "R" Us, but for some that means it will be a confusing 200 page hike. Are you well versed in greek mythology? Are you a close reader? A fan of literary puzzles? Like stories about telling stories? Willing to put up with intentional obscurity? If not, try something else. For many who aren't well versed in all of the minor details (like me), Barth's playfulness and skill will make up for any confusion. But it's not for everyone, and Barth is well aware of that. I loved it. Maybe you will too.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful

Baffling, though thin30 Dec. 2010

By
Steiner
- Published on Amazon.com

Format: Paperback

This collection of stories has become a paradigmatic example of post-modernist fiction. Barth's stylish wit is a wild blend of self-reflexive "meta-fiction," accompanied by bizarre mythological transformations of the American landscape. To my mind, the stories in this collection are rather dated-they no longer ring with the electricity of the moment. Rather, one can almost read them as an era that has passed. Perhaps it is because the stories evoke so little in the way of character, but I found myself always dissatisfied, with the notable exception of the title story.